BY DICK METZGAR
Staff Writer
Practice makes perfect, so county officials said they are satisfied that inmates at the Monmouth County jail, Waterworks Road, Freehold Town-ship, would be able to be safely evacuated on a moment’s notice in case of a real emergency.
A special drill that took place on April 26 was aimed at ensuring that inmates and staff would be able to evacuate the jail in the event of an emergency.
The Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by municipal, county and state emergency response agencies, evacuated 50 inmates from the jail during the drill.
The evacuees were transported by bus from the jail to the National Guard Armory on Route 33, Freehold Borough. The evacuation exercise was designed to test the sheriff’s office jail evacuation procedures, mutual aid agreements and support agency responses to a fire evacuation at the jail.
The exercise started at 9 a.m. with a simulated fire/explosion at the Jersey Central Power & Light Company building adjacent to the jail. The exercise ended at about 12:30 p.m. at the armory with a critical-incident debriefing of all participants led by Sheriff Joseph W. Oxley, Warden William Fraser, Monmouth County Emergency Management Coordinator Harry Conover and Sgt. Kevin LaGravenis, evacuation coordinator.
The jail has room for 1,328 inmates, but the jail population fluctuates from day to day. The facility generally has about 1,200 inmates at any one time, according to Undersheriff Ted Freeman.
Freeman said the emergency response team would be prepared to evacuate the entire jail population in the case of a real emergency.
“We would repeat the procedure many times over, but it would take longer,” Freeman said. “We could accommodate the entire jail population at the armory if necessary.”
Inmates who volunteered to participate in the exercise were flex-cuffed, removed from the jail and transported by bus under heavy security to the armory, where they were processed and placed in a temporary housing facility established at that location. The evacuation plan provides for up to a 72-hour stay at the facility, although the inmates were held at the armory for about one hour during the drill.
PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff The Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies staged a drill at the Monmouth County jail, Freehold Township, that tested the ability of officials to evacuate inmates in the event of an emergency. The simulated emergency was a fire at a nearby JCP&L plant. A group of 50 inmates who volunteered to participate in the drill were transported to the National Guard Armory in Freehold Borough as part of the exercise. Agencies participating in the evacuation exercise included the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office – all divisions, Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management, Monmouth County Shade Tree Commission, Monmouth County Office of Economic Development and Tourism, Monmouth County Police Radio, MONOC paramedics – medivac and triage units, Freehold First Aid and Emergency Squad, Monmouth County Hazmat, Freehold Fire Department, Freehold Township Police Department, Freehold Borough Police Department, Goodwill Fire Company No. 2 – Spring Lake, Salvation Army, New Jersey State Department of Corrections, New Jersey National Guard Armory-Freehold, MO-CERT Special Teams, Ocean County Department of Corrections, Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, Middlesex County Department of Corrections, Salem County Sheriff’s Office – Correc-tions Division, Howell Police K-9, New Jersey State Department of Corrections K-9, CFG Health Systems, Aramark Foods, Jersey Central Power & Light Company and others.
Previous jail evacuation exercises were held in 2003 and 2004 to test the sheriff’s office response to a simulated anthrax contamination at the jail. Both of those exercises were successful, according to authorities.
“Those drills also involved about 50 volunteer inmates,” Freeman said. “In each of those drills, the emergencies revolved around an anthrax scenario [in the jail]. The jail had actually received two letters with anthrax threats at that time.”
Oxley said the exercise was conducted to accomplish four things:
+ To test the evacuation policies and procedures, resource agencies and notification and response procedures for a fire evacuation from the Monmouth County jail.
+ To detect potential weaknesses in the evacuation policies and correct those weaknesses.
+ To obtain information on what was done correctly and identify areas that could be approached differently to improve safety and security.
+ To continue to ensure the safety and security of all Monmouth County residents.
Three county SCAT buses were used to transport the 50 volunteer inmates from the jail to the armory, Freeman said. During the exercise, a planned disturbance occurred on one of the buses that had to be resolved by the escort personnel.
“There was a planned disturbance by one of the inmates on a bus,” Freeman said. “You have to realize that many inmates don’t want to be in jail and this could present an opportunity to attempt an escape. We had tactical units in front and in back of the buses. In this case, the bus pulled to the side of the road near Freehold Raceway Mall and the tactical units responded to solve the problem.”
A simulated heart attack of a corrections officer was addressed with the assistance of MONOC paramedics and their medivac helicopter.
“We felt the drill was very successful,” Freeman said. “We can’t over-emphasize the importance of cooperation of the many participating agencies in the success of the exercise. It is vitally important that you have this kind of partnership to execute such a plan.”
He said representatives from the participating agencies got together at the armory immediately following the exercise for a critique session.
“They will get together again in about two weeks to give a final report on the operation,” Freeman said. “There may be some things, minor tweaking, that we can do to improve the procedure.”
Oxley concluded by saying, “The success of this jail evacuation exercise is due in large measure to our partnerships with municipal, county and state response agencies who are part of our emergency evacuation plans. Failing to plan, and failing to practice your plan, is planning to fail.”
Previous jail evacuation exercises were held in 2003 and 2004 to test the sheriff’s office response to a simulated anthrax contamination at the jail. Both of those exercises were successful, authorities said.
Oxley said the April 26 exercise was conducted to accomplish four things:
+ To test the evacuation policies and procedures, resource agencies and notification and response procedures for a fire evacuation from the Monmouth County jail.
+ To detect potential weaknesses in the evacuation policies and correct those weaknesses.
+ To obtain information on what was done correctly and identify areas that could be approached differently to improve safety and security.
+ To continue to ensure the safety and security of all Monmouth County residents.
Three county SCAT buses were used to transport the 50 volunteer inmates from the jail to the armory, Freeman said. During the exercise, a planned disturbance occurred on one of the buses that had to be resolved by the escort personnel.
“There was a planned disturbance by one of the inmates on a bus,” Freeman said. “You have to realize that many inmates don’t want to be in jail and this could present an opportunity to attempt an escape. We had tactical units in front and in back of the buses. In this case, the bus pulled to the side of the road near Freehold Raceway Mall and the tactical units responded to solve the problem.”
A simulated heart attack of a corrections officer was addressed with the assistance of MONOC paramedics and their medivac helicopter.
“We felt the drill was very successful,” Freeman said. “We can’t over-emphasize the importance of cooperation of the many participating agencies in the success of the exercise. It is vitally important that you have this kind of partnership to execute such a plan.”
He said representatives from the participating agencies got together at the armory immediately following the exercise for a critique session.
“They will get together again in about two weeks to give a final report on the operation,” Freeman said. “There may be some things, minor tweaking, that we can do to improve the procedure.”
Oxley concluded by saying, “The success of this jail evacuation exercise is due in large measure to our partnerships with municipal, county and state response agencies who are part of our emergency evacuation plans. Failing to plan – and failing to practice your plan – is planning to fail.”